There it sits all alone, a game unlike the others. Join me in welcoming the Kansas City Chiefs to Reliant Stadium on Oct. 17.

Say hello to your guaranteed victory. This is the one and only game on the 2010 schedule that looks like a dead-solid, no-questions-asked victory for our Texans.

How's that for a cold slap in the kisser? Of course, you'll immediately focus on the other 15 games. Always worrying about what you don't have instead of what you do.

Real fans would take that guaranteed victory and savor it. That's one more than the Lions and Chiefs have, so there. Why look for trouble?

I've got the Texans favored in just six games, which doesn't mean they're going to win only six. It just means they've got a brutal schedule, but so does every other team.

That's especially true after the open week, when the Texans play six of nine on the road in a stretch that includes road games against the Eagles, Jets and Colts and home games against three playoff contenders: Chargers, Titans and Ravens.

If the Texans have their usual slow start, they're in deep trouble if you define deep trouble as, Oh no, Mr. McNair is going to fire us all. Gary Kubiak's teams are 3-10 in September and 14-6 in December and January. This would be a good year to reverse that trend.

Plenty of talent
Now for the good news. The Texans are good enough to go 16-0. If you're ranking the NFL's 32 teams today, there are only five  Saints, Colts, Vikings, Cowboys and Patriots  clearly better than the Texans.

The Jets, Ravens, Packers and Chargers might be better, and so might the Bengals, Eagles, Steelers, Falcons and Panthers. But the Texans are a good team, possibly a really good team.

And it's no longer strictly a talent issue. It's about staying healthy and closing out games and doing the things champions do.

Maybe that's why this offseason has been so quiet. The Texans can use help at running back and cornerback and safety, but their real substantive improvement needs to come from within.

They need Mario Williams to play better than he did last season. It's not about sack totals, either. It's about making plays with the game on the line, about keeping opposing offensive coordinators up nights worrying about stopping him on third-and-7. Great defensive ends are born by making those plays.

And the Texans need to play an entire season under defensive coordinator Frank Bush the way they played the last 12 games last season.

They need Matt Schaub to cut down on those killer mistakes. He made one against Arizona and another against Indianapolis. If had one of those throws back, the Texans might have gone to the playoffs.

Of course, if the Texans can become a better running team, opposing defenses won't be able to focus only on stopping the passing game.

The Texans need to make the block or the run that gets a critical yard. Had they made two more 1-yard runs at the right time last season, they might have gone to the playoffs.

The Texans have evolved nicely over the last four years, from a 2-14 mess to 8-8 respectable to, finally, a 9-7 winner. Now they need to make another difficult step. They need to be able to close the deal, to play with one heartbeat, to make The Play that frequently is the difference between winning and losing.

They're oh-so-close to being really good. They lost games by 3, 3, 5, 7, 7 and 8 points last season. Other than a loss to the Jets, every loss was about mistakes and misplays. Only the Jets were obviously better.

Something intangible
One more play at the right time would have put the Texans in the playoffs. A handful of plays would have made them an elite team.

They also won games by 3, 3, 3 and 7 points. That's nine of 16 games decided by 7 points or fewer. The NFL is a high-wire act of 100-hour workweeks often coming down to a single play on Sunday. What a way to live. No wonder coaches burn out.

Maybe this is a natural progress from where the franchise was four years ago. Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak overhauled the roster from top to bottom, and they've added talent across the board.

What they need to add now can't be measured, timed or wunderliched. What they need is what all championship teams have. It's about finishing the deal.

__________________My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.

They shouldn't even exist. Them and Cleveland both, they lost their ****ing teams. And what a ****ing retarded nickname, the ****ing Texans. Who was the asswipe that gave the go-ahead for that one.

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